According to Biblical precepts, the mikveh (“immersion bath,” pl. mikvot) is the place where women have to wash away, or cleanse themselves of, their ritual impurity and men have to gain back their cultic purity. As a result of Talmudic scholars’ specifications of religious law (Halakhah), the mikveh became an institution of Jewish daily life as long ago as antiquity. After the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem and the end of the…
Mikveh(2,251 words)
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Fonrobert, Charlotte Elisheva, “Mikveh”, in: Encyclopedia of Jewish History and Culture Online, Original German Language Edition: Enzyklopädie Jüdischer Geschichte und Kultur. Im Auftrag der Sächsischen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Leipzig herausgegeben von Dan Diner. © J.B. Metzler, Stuttgart/Springer-Verlag GmbH Deutschland 2011–2017. Consulted online on 06 June 2023 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/2468-8894_ejhc_COM_0543>
First published online: 2017
First print edition: 20210312
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